1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting assembly designed to hold a wide variety of holsters. The mounting assembly may be anchored to the wearer's waist belt and strapped to either of the wearer's legs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Handguns are available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. In the same way, the holsters used to carry handguns are also available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. In many cases, the holster and belt assembly sold with the handgun cannot be worn comfortably by the user, or does not allow the handgun to be placed in an optimum position on the user's body. These problems may result from improper belt sizes, improper placement of belts, or other design flaws of the holster and belt assembly.
For the user who desires the ability to use a variety of handguns from waist mounted holsters, the different placement of the separate holster required by each handgun makes it impossible for the user to draw and fire each handgun with a consistent movement.
Several holster mechanisms are disclosed in the prior art, none of which directly address this problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,638 (Rolston, et al.) describes a reversible left and right hand holster with a specially designed pistol pouch. However, this holster is limited to use of the single pistol pouch, and provides very little flexibility in terms of adjusting the horizontal and vertical location of the weapon on the user's leg.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,871 (McMahon) describes a holster assembly for handguns which also includes a specially adapted holster body having "Velcro" strips and snaps located thereon for engaging the holster body to the support means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,768 (Hill, et al.) describes a gun belt and holster mounting mechanism which is tailored for use with a specialized "boot" holster which is attached by screws and snaps. This specialized boot may be adjusted, but it cannot be replaced by other holster means for use with different handguns.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,385 (Rogers) describes a holster and belt combination in which the pins used to attach the holster allow it to be quickly removed from the belt. However, the holster is not adjustable, and must be fitted with the pin locking mechanisms at specific locations in order to function properly.
The prior art known to the applicant describes holster mounting mechanisms which are designed for a use with specific holsters, none of which allow for free interchangeability of various holsters for use in the same mounting mechanism. Furthermore, none of the prior art discloses a holster mounting mechanism having the great range of horizontal and vertical adjustment flexibility provided by the instant invention.